Army’s top-secret letter leak, six indicted

Army’s top-secret details about operational plans and deployment along the India-China border could have been compromised and around six military personnel have been indicted by a court of inquiry (CoI) in this regard.

Sources said the indicted personnel are in the process of facing disciplinary action on various counts in the incident which happened around a couple of years ago.

The sensitive information could have been compromised because of leakage of a top secret letter written by the Tezpur-based 4 Corps to the Rangia-based 21 Mountain Division which is learned to have details about operational plans and other such crucial information relating to the sensitive China border, they said.

The sources said at that point of time, the 21 Mountain Division was being commanded by Maj Gen NS Ghei, who was later promoted to the rank of Lt Gen and is presently commanding the Bathinda-based 10 Corps along Pakistan border.

The letter went missing within a week of its receipt by the 21 Mountain Division and it is still untraceable.

It is not yet clear whether defence ministry was informed by the top Army brass about the loss of such a sensitive letter at a time when Gen VK Singh was the Army chief.

The Army is in the process of developing its capabilities along the boundary with China which includes raising of additional 90,000 troops under a yet-to-be-raised Mountain Strike Corps.